Starting a new thread because the previous discussions of Vanderbilt interviews are five years old. I will be visiting Vandy in late October to tour the campus and conduct my interview with one of the Assistant Admissions Directors. Would anyone who has done on on-campus interview admissions interview care to offer some insight about what to expect? I have always worn a button down and slacks for my previous campus visits, should I dress up for this one sits an interview? Are the interview questions routine?

I didn't do an admissions interview, so I can't help you on that specific aspect of your questions. But I am more than willing to help you in any way that I can, and I hope you will PM me if you want to talk more about Vandy.

I *did* come on campus to take a solo, 1 on 1 tour of the campus with a member of the admissions staff. It is very casual. Everyone and everything at Vandy is casual, at least concerning admissions and visiting the school and such. I wore simply a button down collar shirt and chinos. Now, you're doing an interview, so maybe someone else will chime in to offer a perspective on admission interview dress code. Maybe you want to dress up for that, who knows. My overall advice would be to just be casual and relaxed, because that's how they're going to handle you. It's a chill process.

In terms of food/bar recommendations: so in terms of bars you're in real great shape by the law school. The law school is located in midtown, and Division St just a block or so away from the law school building is teaming with bars. Some of them are shitty and divey, some are much nicer. On division there's a handful of dives, a handful of slightly nicer bars, and at least two top "classy cocktail" type bars--one in the Aertson hotel/apartment building and the other is Patterson. Patterson is super nice in terms of being a fancy bar for people who get down on that kind of thing------I am more into dive bar type atmosphere and so these nice cocktail lounges are simply not my vibe. But anyway, there's places like Broadway Brewhouse, Rebar, Losers, and many more all right there in midtown on either Division St or Broadway.

Food is tougher to crack imo, because the food immediately surrounding the law school is not that great in terms of variety and quality. The stuff closest to the law school is the kind of quick service lunch stuff you eat when you need to crank out lunch and move on with your day. There's Subway, Chipotle, and Panera right across the street from the law school. San Antonio Taco Company (aka "SATCO") is also right next to Panera, and that's probably the only cool and "real" quick lunch spot there is by the law school. I ate a bunch at SATCO as a 1L but don't really eat there now. There is better food in Midtown if you walk a bit aways from the law school---I recommend Tavern, which is probably dollar-for-dollar the best midrange place close to the law school. If you like brunch and are there on a weekend GO TO TAVERN! Last but most importantly, you should really eat at Hattie B's hot chicken, which is walking distance from the law school just a bit further down than Tavern. There are better places to eat hot chicken in Nashville (namely Prince's), but Hattie B's is great and they do a great job. You'll want to eat at Hattie's if it's your first trip to Vandy. Otherwise, the truly great restaurants in Nashville are not in midtown. Take an uber downtown and you'll find much nicer places to eat, if you want great midrange to fine-dining quality stuff.

Like I said, I don't know about the admission interview stuff but if you want to talk to a current student feel free to holler at me in the PMs

I'm a Nashville local and did a campus visit today. I wore a button down shirt and nice jeans and didn't feel at all out of place. There was one person on the tour with me who was dressed casually like me. Our two guides were dressed even more casually, one wearing shorts and the other wearing athletic shoes. I chose to go casual because I knew I'd be sitting in on a class and didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb being all dressed up. Overall, the vibe at the school was casual.

Having said that, they don't offer the official admissions interview when you visit campus if you're a local. You have to schedule that separately with an alumnus in the area. I have mine next week with an attorney in the Tennessee Attorney General's office and he's asked me to come to his office downtown for the interview. So I'm wearing a suit to that just because I'm going to an office where I imagine business dress is the norm. If my interview had been on campus though as part of my visit today, I think what I was wearing would have been fine.

HenryHankPalmer wrote:Starting a new thread because the previous discussions of Vanderbilt interviews are five years old. I will be visiting Vandy in late October to tour the campus and conduct my interview with one of the Assistant Admissions Directors. Would anyone who has done on on-campus interview admissions interview care to offer some insight about what to expect? I have always worn a button down and slacks for my previous campus visits, should I dress up for this one sits an interview? Are the interview questions routine?

I just finished the interview and my interviewer had a checklist of questions from Vandy so I assume they'll cover similar ones with you. He went through my resume and asked me about my work experience. Then he asked me what achievement in my past I'm most proud of. He asked me to describe a difficulty I had overcome in my professional or academic life. He asked why I wanted to study law. He asked why I was interested in Vandy and what I would contribute to the law school. He also asked where else I'd applied to law school. Finally, he asked if there was anything I wanted Vandy to know that hadn't been covered by the application or our interview. It all lasted about 40 minutes. Good luck on yours!

HenryHankPalmer wrote:Starting a new thread because the previous discussions of Vanderbilt interviews are five years old. I will be visiting Vandy in late October to tour the campus and conduct my interview with one of the Assistant Admissions Directors. Would anyone who has done on on-campus interview admissions interview care to offer some insight about what to expect? I have always worn a button down and slacks for my previous campus visits, should I dress up for this one sits an interview? Are the interview questions routine?

joeyjoe83 wrote:I just finished the interview and my interviewer had a checklist of questions from Vandy so I assume they'll cover similar ones with you. He went through my resume and asked me about my work experience. Then he asked me what achievement in my past I'm most proud of. He asked me to describe a difficulty I had overcome in my professional or academic life. He asked why I wanted to study law. He asked why I was interested in Vandy and what I would contribute to the law school. He also asked where else I'd applied to law school. Finally, he asked if there was anything I wanted Vandy to know that hadn't been covered by the application or our interview. It all lasted about 40 minutes. Good luck on yours!

HenryHankPalmer wrote:Starting a new thread because the previous discussions of Vanderbilt interviews are five years old. I will be visiting Vandy in late October to tour the campus and conduct my interview with one of the Assistant Admissions Directors. Would anyone who has done on on-campus interview admissions interview care to offer some insight about what to expect? I have always worn a button down and slacks for my previous campus visits, should I dress up for this one sits an interview? Are the interview questions routine?

joeyjoe83 wrote:I just finished the interview and my interviewer had a checklist of questions from Vandy so I assume they'll cover similar ones with you. He went through my resume and asked me about my work experience. Then he asked me what achievement in my past I'm most proud of. He asked me to describe a difficulty I had overcome in my professional or academic life. He asked why I wanted to study law. He asked why I was interested in Vandy and what I would contribute to the law school. He also asked where else I'd applied to law school. Finally, he asked if there was anything I wanted Vandy to know that hadn't been covered by the application or our interview. It all lasted about 40 minutes. Good luck on yours!

HenryHankPalmer wrote:Starting a new thread because the previous discussions of Vanderbilt interviews are five years old. I will be visiting Vandy in late October to tour the campus and conduct my interview with one of the Assistant Admissions Directors. Would anyone who has done on on-campus interview admissions interview care to offer some insight about what to expect? I have always worn a button down and slacks for my previous campus visits, should I dress up for this one sits an interview? Are the interview questions routine?

Also looking for Nashville food/bar recommendations.

This is awesome, thank you so much!

I didn't go to campus, but I did a Skype interview the other day. Had the same questions as joeyjoe. It was relaxed and enjoyable. Make sure you have some questions ready to ask them at the end of the interview. Good luck!